Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bernanke
Determined To Make Mortgate Rates Go Lower - (www.denverpost.com) Record-low mortgage rates aren't
cheap enough for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke as he tries to spur
economic growth and create jobs. Policymakers are disappointed that lower
yields on mortgage-backed securities haven't led to more savings on home loans
after the Fed expanded its balance sheet to an all-time high of almost $3
trillion through bond purchases. Bernanke this month called the trend
"unfortunate," and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York held a
workshop to examine the issue. The gap between the bond yields and home-loan
rates is blunting the economic benefits of the Fed's record accommodation, New
York Fed President William C. Dudley said in a speech in New York this month.
Among the reasons for the spread: banks are reluctant to take on the expensive
fixed costs of new staff to process the paperwork and tougher capital
requirements are making it less attractive to service loans.

Jobless
benefits running out - (money.cnn.com)
2 million jobless will get their last unemployment checks this week
unless Congress acts to resolve the fiscal cliff. Some 2.1 million
jobless Americans are receiving their last federal unemployment checks this
week if Congress doesn't extend the deadline to file for extended benefits. And
another 1 million who exhaust their state benefits in the first quarter of 2013
will never see a federal unemployment payment, according to the National
Employment Law Project, an advocacy group. Lawmakers are down to the wire to
extend federal jobless benefits -- of
up to 47 weeks -- that Americans can receive after exhausting their six months
of state payments. The law expires on Wednesday.

The
Rise And Fall Of Phantom Housing Collateral - (www.zerohedge.com) How much
phantom housing collateral is still on the books? Nobody knows, and that in
itself renders the housing/mortgage sector fragile. Mortgage debt doubled in a
mere decade. If we go back to pre-bubble 1997, residential mortgages
totaled $5.1 trillion. (Source: mortgage debt outstanding, 1959-2003).
This was roughly 50% of real GDP of $10 trillion (source: Real U.S. GDP). At the top
of the bubble, residential mortgage debt was $10.57 trillion, more than double
the total of 1997. (Source:Balance Sheet of
Households, Federal Reserve). This was 79.3% of real GDP--a rise of
30%. As a percentage of disposable personal income, mortgage debt rose from 53%
in 1960 to 113% in 2003. Income rose over those 43 years, of course, but
mortgage debt rose much faster. Mortgage debt has declined as lenders have
written off losses. Mortgage debt has declined from $10.56 trillion in
2007 to $9.48 Trillion in 2012. Is it coincidence that this $1.1 trillion
decline equals the Fed's purchases of mortgages since 2009?The World's
Largest Money-Laundering Machine: The Federal Reserve (October
8, 2012) "The Fed is now where mortgages go to die" -- Catherine
Austin Fitts

Michigan
Supreme Court Rules $3.75 Billion Of JPM Chase Held Mortgages Are Voidable - (www.mfi-miami.com) The Michigan
Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that nearly $3.75 billion of former WamU mortgages held
by JPMorgan chase are voidable. On the Friday before Christmas, while the media
was focused on the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre and
pre-Christmas retail sales figures, the Michigan Supreme Court quietly handed
down a significant ruling that will affect nearly $3.75 billion worth of
mortgages former Washington Mutual mortgages that JPMorgan Chase acquired from
the FDIC after Washington Mutual went into FDIC receivership in 2008.